Hyderabad, April 15 (IANS) Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working President K.T. Rama Rao on Wednesday warned the Centre that if delimitation of Parliamentary constituencies results in injustice to South India, this will trigger a massive movement in the region.

He made it clear that if the delimitation exercise is conducted in a manner that diminishes the representation of the Southern states, it will not remain merely a political process or a legislative amendment; rather, it will trigger a powerful mass movement across the entire South India.

In a statement, he reiterated that there has been no change in the BRS party’s stance on this matter, emphasising that they remain firmly committed to the resolute position they adopted three years ago.

KTR asserted that they are proud Indians and representatives of exemplary states that play a pivotal role in the nation’s development. He opined that it would be unjust — and indeed unreasonable — for the Southern states, which have achieved remarkable progress in various sectors, including population control, to face political injustice as a consequence of this delimitation exercise.

He criticised the move to curtail the representation of developing states — rather than encouraging them — as being contrary to the very spirit of democracy.

KTR made it unequivocally clear that if attempts are made to stifle the voices and representation of their people in Parliament, they will not stand by in silence. He declared that they would wage an uncompromising struggle to uphold the rights of South Indians.

“We hope that the Central Government, at least now, understands the ground realities, and that the rulers in Delhi heed our words and exercise good judgment,” he stated.

Barring the BJP, all political parties in the state have opposed the proposed pro rata model for delimitation.

Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Tuesday wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, calling for a national, political consensus on increasing seats for the Lok Sabha, with a hybrid model.

“The proposal to increase in Lok Sabha seats on either population or pro rata model is not acceptable to many states, among them, southern states. I wish to bring to your notice our serious concerns regarding the proposal to increase Lok Sabha seats, which if done on a pro rata basis, is fraught with dangers for the country,” wrote Revanth Reddy.

The Chief Minister also wrote letters to the chief ministers of other southern states, calling for unitedly resisting the Centre’s move to push a pro rata model to increase Lok Sabha seats, saying this would be highly detrimental and inimical to the interests of Southern states.

–IANS

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